When the four of them emerged from the royal quarters of the Emperor, their faces were pale, including Sternon, who had a translucent appearance to begin with.

"His Majesty..." Sternon gulped. "...is very protective of Ria."

"Yeah, that he is." Runark smiled wryly. "But don’t worry, he’s otherwise a very reasonable person outside of things related to Ria and Project Water."

"Project Water?"

"It’s a whole thing." Runark heaved a sigh. "Anyway, let’s get going. Ria sent me a message to have all of us meet up in the lobby. We apparently have a destination to get to."

"Do we meet with the Esoterist?" Misha asked with an unusually enthusiastic expression. "Come on, we don’t have time to waste."

She dragged them along even though Runark guided them through the maze of the palace until they finally reached the lobby where a giant floating carriage awaited them.

The transportation vehicle resembled the auto-carriages of old in design, despite being highly modernized in its transportation technology.

Ria waited for them impatiently with folded arms and a tapping foot. "Come on already!"

"Why are you so eager to visit the man immediately?" Runark asked with an exasperated expression as the four of them stopped before her. "I haven’t even had the opportunity to go home and say hi to my parents, you know?"

"You can do that later." Ria grabbed him impatiently before pulling the others into the floating carriage. "Your family isn’t going anywhere, but this business opportunity can’t wait!"

Just as she was about to get into the carriage herself, a familiar female voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Family is important, Ria."

Ria’s expression soured as the mature, powerful voice continued.

"It is more important than business."

STEP

Ria turned around to find herself staring at none other than her aunt, Minister Ru of the Kandrian Government. She was visibly older and more mature than she had been eighteen years ago when she challenged the then Void Prince for the throne. Her golden hair was the same shade as Ria’s, while her piercing golden eyes bore deep into her niece’s in a disapproving manner.

Behind her, two Martial Sages stood in protection, adding to the weight of her presence.

"Aunt Ru..." Ria croaked with anything but an enthusiastic tone of voice.

"Is that how you greet your aunt?" Ru raised an eyebrow. "I heard you had returned once more from the frontier, and I expected you to pay your dear, loving aunt, who is always concerned for you, but you never came."

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

"Your aunt was so heartbroken."

Ria could barely hide her scowl. "Sorry, aunty, but I’m super busy right now."

Before she could jump into the floating automobile, her aunt caught her by the shoulder.

"And just where does the sole princess of the most powerful country think she’s going in that attire?"

Ru’s face crinkled with cringing disapproval. "Surely... the first princess has enough sense and responsibility as a princess not to run around wearing a skin-tight exo-Martial suit? Especially when you’re about to visit the head of state of one of the powerhouses of Panamic Civilization?"

Ria stiffened.

This was why she hated her aunt. Out of all the people in the palace, her aunt made her life the most miserable when it came to the duties and responsibilities that she supposedly had as a princess of the Kandrian Empire.

Ru had been the most powerful Kandrian princess before Ria was born, and the most exemplary princess. She had mastered the royal traditions, etiquette, and protocols reserved for female descendants of the ruler, many of which were suffocating to say the least.

Rui had never cared for social protocol, half-heartedly respecting only a core set of important protocols among the countless that he was subject to adhere to as Emperor. Of course, nobody ever dared to complain to him because he was the most powerful man in human civilization, with or without the throne.

His carelessness for protocol had rubbed off on his daughter, much to Ru’s disapproval, while Ria’s mother simply didn’t understand these matters as someone born and brought up in an ascetic society like the Gen Temple.

Ru had thus taken to being the ’bad cop’ of the family, ensuring that Ria was trained in royal protocols and conducted herself in a manner befitting the princess of the Kandrian Empire.

"Oh, come on, Aunt Ru!" Ria turned around, glaring at the older woman. "Who cares about what I wear? I’m my own person outside of being a princess, ok?"

"The world cares, my dear niece," Ru remarked with a calm tone of voice, her expression being one of disapproval. "You represent the Kandrian Empire everywhere you go outside of your hidden identity in the frontier. You must conduct yourself befitting a lady of the Kandrian Royal Family."

"But—!"

"No buts," Ru interjected, cutting her off. "Go groom yourself in a manner consistent with your status, or I’ll have these senior Martial Sages here cart you off and thrust you in front of the grooming staff."

Ria glared at her aunt. "Why do you always have to be such a bitch?"

She ran off, grudgingly listening to her aunt’s commands. Ru heaved a deep breath, softening her golden eyes as she watched Ria scurry off. It was not the kind of relationship she had sought to have with her precious niece, but Ru felt duty-bound to ensure that the traditions of the royal family were carried over, lest the family become completely slovenly in just a few generations.

STEP

She turned towards the floating automobile, spotting Runark, who waved her with an amused smile.

"Cheer her up when she does return," Ru told him, directing a smile of regard to her friends before walking away.

When Ria did eventually return an hour and a half later, she looked like an entirely different person. Her hair was smooth and silky, like strands of gold that glistened in the bright light of the afternoon sun.

She smelled of sunflowers, like she had run through a field filled with them in season. Her face’s skin tone was uniform; a tinge of blush reddened her cheeks, and her eyelashes became more pronounced.

Her clothes comprised a formal, coat dress of a deep royal blue that reached her shins, with a matching, thin feathered hat on top and gloves to match, and a glassy pair of high heels.